Harris spoke during a high-powered conference call Thursday featuring U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., and the state's U.S. senators, Democrats Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley. The politicians joined Harris to announce a $197 million federal loan guarantee for the Wilsonville plant, which is expected to create about 270 construction jobs and employ 500.

The factory will produce a new type of flexible solar panel as an alternative to rigid modules. State, county and city governments are expected to subsidize the plant to the tune of more than $129,000 a job. SoloPower seeks a total of $42 million in subsidies and incentives from local governments for the factory's $55 million first phase.

Asked whether he would pledge that manufacturing will not leave Oregon, Harris said the plant would become a hub for SoloPower even as the company expands worldwide. "I don't know about pledging, but we're contractually committed to staying," said Harris, adding SoloPower's technology is more advanced and difficult to move than Evergreen's.

Evergreen has become a spectre haunting the solar industry due to its abrupt decision in January to eliminate more than 800 jobs in Massachusetts, where officials had lined up $58 million in grants, tax breaks and other benefits. Critics fault states for competing to provide incentives without ensuring manufacturers will stay.

Evergreen developed its technology to reduce the impact of high costs of polysilicon raw material, Harris said. "When that cost came down, it became difficult for them to compete," he said. "I'd have to say they were under dire circumstances."

Kitzhaber said that in Wilsonville, "SoloPower is bringing exactly the kind of jobs Oregon needs."

Harris declined, however, to disclose the salaries SoloPower workers will earn, saying the plant would employ engineers and workers with semiconductor-manufacturing experience. "These are not kind of low-end, high-volume assembly jobs," he said. -- Richard Read